DNA Complete Series One and Two

DNA Complete Series One and Two / 2008 Acorn / 344 Minutes / http://www.acornmedia.com /

DNA was a series that was put forth on British TV in 2004. It starts Tom Conti (from Reuben, Reuben, Rabbit Fever, and Paid) as Joe Donovan. After coming from a very troubling time in eir life (ey broke down), Joe Donovan is tapped to head up the Forensic Investigations Unit in Manchester. It is from this position that Conti has to solve a crime that is considerably like the one that drove eir near madness and begin to set forth on a path that has eir solve some of the most difficult crimes that the department has ever seen.

Five episodes are all given the proper time to weave and expand upon a story; at over an hour each, the pacing is solid enough to show the minor mental nuances of Donovan in ways that a number of contemporary mystery shows are simply unable to do. Other recurring actors, such as Donovan’s wife (played by Samantha Bond, of GoldenEye and The World is Not Enough) and son (Ryan Cartwright, from Seriously Weird, Hardware and Look Around You), further flesh out Donovan’s motivations and give an explanation for why the character is so dedicated.  Acorn Media has delved deep into the annals of British television archives to find this show; I understand it is only about four years old, but a quick search online does not turn up any fan pages or even any sort of official page for the show.

By releasing all five episodes on DVD, Acorn has ensured that individuals that may have missed DNA the first time will find out what an impressive show it was. The transfer of the show from the original source tapes is solid, allowing for clear dialogue and a set that is dark, but this darkness is not at a level that necessarily complicates things. Unlike other Acorn DVD sets, there is little in the way of bonus features. However, with a run-time that approaches 6 hours, one can hardly blame Acorn from digging up some small bit of extra material, especially considering all that would likely be left would be original commercials for the show or snippets describing the show from British entertainment news shows. If you like mysteries, you simply cannot do much better than DNA; Conti’s work as Donovan during the show is good enough to make individuals believe that Donovan could be a real character in their local forensics department.

Rating: 8.0/10

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